Cabinet structures employing one or more horizontally-openable drawers are extensively utilized in offices and similar environments for storage of files, papers, and miscellaneous other objects. Such cabinet structures, including those referred to as “lateral files”, generally provide a plurality of horizontally-openable drawers which individually have an upwardly-opening box-shaped structure defining a storage compartment. In many instances the box-shaped drawers are fairly deep, particularly those which are designed for storage of files and similar papers. However, the storage needs of a user may vary over time, and the user's storage needs may be such as to require fewer deep-compartment drawers since the articles being stored may be more suitable for shallow compartment drawers. While various adaptor structures are available for disposition within a drawer to create various storage levels or compartments, such adaptors typically do not permit convenient access to articles stored below the adaptor without requiring removal of the adaptor or, in the alternative, the adaptor is not effective for providing storage and/or access to the entire horizontal interior of the compartment over multiple levels.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved drawer insert assembly for an existing drawer, which insert assembly includes an insert drawer which is of shallower depth than the existing drawer and which sits on and within the upper portion of the existing drawer compartment in a generally vertically stacked relationship so as to define two vertically-stacked shallow storage compartments, an upper one defined in the insert drawer, and a lower one defined by the original drawer storage compartment.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a drawer insert assembly, as aforesaid, which mounts on the existing drawer in such manner as to permit horizontal sliding movement of the insert drawer between a normal stacked storage position wherein the insert drawer is readily accessible when the original drawer is in an open position, with the insert drawer also being horizontally slidably extendible rearwardly into the interior of the cabinet to permit ready access to a lower storage compartment defined by the original drawer.
It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved insert for an existing drawer, as aforesaid, which insert includes an insert drawer which is of shallower depth and fits within the original drawer compartment in upwardly spaced relation from the bottom wall thereof. The insert drawer is horizontally slidably mounted on end panels which are mounted, preferably by a resilient snap engagement, on the side walls of the main box structure of the existing drawer. The slidable mounting permits the insert drawer to be manually slidably moved between a primary position wherein it is disposed entirely over the bottom wall of the main box structure, and a secondary position wherein the insert drawer is cantilevered horizontally outwardly a significant distance beyond an edge of the bottom wall of the main box structure.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a drawer insert assembly, as aforesaid, which can be easily and effectively retrofitted to an existing drawer without requiring structural modification or reconstruction of the original cabinet drawer, and which permits retrofitting of the drawer insert assembly to the existing drawer in a simple and efficient manner without requiring use of complex tools or equipment.
In accordance with the present invention, there is initially provided a conventional drawer arrangement having at least one upwardly opening drawer supported on a cabinet and horizontally movable from a closed position wherein the drawer front closes off a front opening of the cabinet, and an open position wherein the drawer projects horizontally outwardly of the cabinet so that a vertically deep storage compartment defined by the drawer is vertically accessible. The original or existing drawer typically includes an upwardly-opening box structure defined by a bottom wall which extends between parallel upright end walls, the latter typically mounting horizontal slide arrangements which couple to the cabinet side walls, a drawer front which typically joins to front edges of the end walls, such as by screws cooperating between opposed abutting flanges, and an upright rear wall projecting upwardly from the bottom wall and extending horizontally between rear edges of the end walls. This rear wall frequently has a height which is significantly less than the height of the end walls. A drawer insert arrangement according to the present invention is mounted to the existing drawer specifically by being mounted on the end walls of the existing drawer and supported to extend horizontally therebetween in parallel relationship to the sideward extent of the existing drawer. The drawer insert arrangement defines an insert drawer having a storage compartment with a bottom disposed a substantial upwardly-spaced distance above the bottom wall of the existing drawer. The insert drawer arrangement includes mounting panel structures disposed at opposite ends of the insert drawer which mount on the existing drawer end walls and which also provide a horizontal movable support for the insert drawer, preferably by means of a track-and-roller support arrangement, so that the insert drawer can be moved horizontally forwardly/rearwardly relative to the existing drawer, with the insert drawer normally being disposed in direct upward spacing above the original drawer bottom wall, but being horizontally movable rearwardly away from the drawer front so that the insert drawer is cantilevered rearwardly into the interior of the cabinet housing to permit vertical access to the original drawer storage compartment as defined directly above the original bottom wall.
With the improved drawer insert arrangement of this invention, as briefly summarized above, a single deep-compartment drawer can be easily converted into a dual-drawer arrangement so as to provide two readily-accessible shallower drawer compartments, which conversion can be effected during manufacture if desired, but more significantly can be easily converted at a use location by assembling and mounting the insert drawer arrangement to the original drawer box structure, which assembling and mounting can be carried out without requiring special tools or difficult manipulations.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with structures of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.
Certain terminology will be used in the following description for convenience in reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, the words “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “rightwardly” and “leftwardly” will refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. The words “inwardly” and “outwardly” will refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of the structure and designated parts thereof. The words “inward” and “outward” will also refer to directions of drawer movement, these respectively being movement of the existing drawer in closing and opening directions. The terminology will include the words specifically mentioned, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import.